Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

MOA – Museum of Architecture in London by Seeding Office-Architecture

Sir G. Scott, the man who designed Battersea Power Station, was a master in blending gothic tradition with modernism and he created some of the most legendary landmarks of his time. The concept design for the new Museum Of Architecture aims to engage the deepest roots of this listed building to a unique, sustainable and contemporary design. A building that is the symbol and beholder of an extraordinary history demands an approach which evokes, inspires and remembers its stories by retaining the visual memory of all its art deco details, including its cracked walls, marks, broken beams, etc.

Therefore the decision was made to preserve the existing conditions of the station as it is, like a magnificent relic, and to insert into the general volume an unexpected three dimensional wrapping element that will neither change or affect the walls but, to the contrary, will actually prevent their further decadency, creating at the same time a new dialogue between the past and the future like the intentions of that believed middle line.

Image courtesy Seeding Office

The Three main halls are covered in translucent ETFE embracing the verticality, the rhythm and the language of the aesthetically pleasing shapes of the arches and the fine balance in heights between the two side turbine halls and the spacious-central hall.

Image courtesy Seeding Office

The dramatic theatricality is maintained in this epic space, typical of the gothic style, while the innovative inflated material itself and its advanced technology becomes a symbol of modernity. The ETFE creates new spaces for the Museum of Architecture, contributes to the control of the internal temperature and works also as a screen to protect the building yet still
allowing for the view of all the original details. We believe that sustainability, in this case, does not only mean introducing technology to reduce consumption or using clean energy but moreover radically cutting energy use and waste materials that would certainly be involved in a renovation process of the entire building.

Image courtesy Seeding Office

Due to the nature of this non-invasive approach, the exterior site area becomes a natural extension of Battersea Park where functions and services are integrated into the landscape design. Shapes and materials will be reminiscent of a dismissed industrial field that during the years has been naturally incorporated and merged harmoniously with the green.